Button blank feeding attachment



Dec. 28, 1948. J. A. DE MARCO 2,457,534

BUTTON BLANK FEEDING ATTACHMENT Filed Jan. 'r, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet '1 Fig. I.

I I nvenfor Joseph A. De Marco Dec. 28, 1948. J. A. DE MARCO 2, 5 BUTTON BLANK FEEDING ATTACHMENT Filed Jan. 7, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ill/[17717.

Inventor Jaseph A. De Marco Patented Dec. 28, 1948 t UNITED ear 2,457,534;-

BUTTONBEANK'FEEDINGWTTACHMENTF v Joseph XtDeM rcoQBtooklyn; Y; A licatitnrantaty 'z, 1W1; sei ial nbi v'ztl'ss'e ic'l aim. (cilia-1'7) I I; This invention relates-to newandl'usefm imstantially in thei lane of.tl'ie'-line:3 '3 inzFigurel; movements and: st ructurali refinementsiinibuttbn Figure" 4? is. at cross sectionah view; ken submaking machines. andth'elprincip'ali()ljjectdlf the stantially in the planerofitheiline 4fi in-'Figure:2; invention to provide a -blank feedirfg attach- FigllTtBis-iflnillndiside' p nvi'ew of tlie inm'ent which may be. conveniently andf'efiectivelyw 0 arid employedl'for mechanically depositing'theblanks Figure on an en'd view thereof; taken in 'the dion the chucks of the conveyor with-which such rection of the rr w 6 in Fi ure li machines are usuall provided;. Laikeicharacter's of referenoe areusedzto desigconventionally, the buttoniblanksiareideposite natelzlike: parts in t specififlaitiofi a d t roughon the chucks by hand and:the speed oflth'e"ma-- 9 on't ithe a-l' V Ws: chine is thereforemore: or less dependentupon rReferringinowitb thh a' p y ngidrawin s n the speed of the manual feedingtoperation, detail;-tthednventionconsists of? a feedin attach- Accordingly by employing t 'ch ial fee-dment designated generally.by thesreference ch'aring device, the feeding operation can be kept more Vacte'lr: |0;,the same embbdyingwin' its-construction a" considerable number of defective plan in step, as it were, with the manufacturing ma-. Idem-elongated plate: I I which-maybetmounted in chine and the latter may possibly be operated at anmsuitable manner abovethe'conveyor I2 with higher speed than has been previously considered whichztherbutton makingi machine is usuallyrpropractical, I t V v I vidda V Furthermore, manual feedings demands indi- Theconveyoh I2 is'-customarily equipped-with a vidual handling of the blanks'by the operator andvzo row ofrspaced'z chucks [3 which are adapted to since the latter is primarily concerned with the receivethe button= bl sz=and the undersid'e of depositing cf the blanks on"-the chucks at the the plate H- is formed with ailongitudinallyl exfastest possible rate; it becomes-readily apparent tending; groove: l4 .whichprovides'.,what may be that the operator has no time to inspect thegin- ,referred-twas p eet or the chucksi dividual blanks which he is handling. As; esultg. 'I he upper surface of the plate ,l-l;is provided are with; longitudinallyr extending: channel I 5;, one fed to the machine and the useful output thereof end of thedatter being plosed as: at l6 ,;.-while; its

is greatly diminished. However, by employin a remaining end terminates in an enlargedbpening mechanical feeding device, the operator Will have H which is in communication with the passage ample time to inspect the blanks as they pass I4.

through the feeding attachment, and the fore- A blank delivery trough 18 extends downwardly going disadvantage will thus be eliminated. from a suitable hopper (not shown) and com- A furt r O j of the invention s to provide municates at the lower end thereof with the chana feeding attachment which i simple in connel l5 adjacent the opening IT. The channel I5 St c Which y be ea ily installed in posireceives a'slidable ejector bar l9 and the latter is tion on the machine, and which is automatically provided medially of its length with an upstandactuated by the operation of said machine, so that ing pin 20, as will be clearly apparent. The purit may accurately keep in step with the same. pose of the bar and pin will be hereinafter more An additional object of the invention is to profully explained.

vide a feeding attachme Which l t e ly 40 A pair of dogs 2|, configurated as is best shown become damaged and which will readily lend itin Figure 5, are provided adjacent the underside self to economical manufactureof the plate I I, each of the two dogs being secured With the above more important objects in view by a suitable set screw 22 to a pin 23. The two and such other Obje as y DQ001116 ppa n pins 23 extend through the plate II on the relaas this specification proceeds, the invention contively opposite sides of the passage l4 and each sists essentially of the construction and arrangepin is rotatably mounted, preferably in a ball me of parts a shown in e p yi bearing 24. It will be observed that the dogs 2| drawings in which: are relatively opposed and that they project into Figure 1 is a p plan v w of the nv i the passage M, as will be clearly understood. showing the same at the commencement of the 0 Each of the pins 23 also carries a lever 25, the feeding stroke; two levers being disposed adjacent the upper sur- Figure 215 a p p View, Similar to that Shown face of the plate I l. One end of each of a pair of in Figure 1, but showing the invention at the conlinks 26 is mounted on the aforementioned pin 20 clusion 0f the feeding stroke; and the remaining end of each link is pivoted as Figure 3 is a cross sectional view, taken subat 21 to one of the levers 25. The links 26 are necessary.

When the invention is placed in use, the device is mounted above the conveyor belt I 2 as has already been explained, so that the belt moves in the direction of the arrow 3|. The button blanks 32 are fed from the hopper (not shown):

through the trough I8 and into the channel I5,

and assuming the plunger l9 to be in the position shown in Figure 1, it will be notedthat only one of the blanks 32 can be accommodated in the channel at one time. 7

As the conveyor I2 travels in the direction 0 the arrow 3|, one of the chucks l3 will engage a the dogs Zl and will swing them outwardly as indicated at 33. The movement of the dogs will be transmitted through the medium of the pins 23 to the levers 25, which in turn, by actuating the links-26,-will slide the ejector bar [9 in th direction of the arrow 34.

' The sliding of the bar l9 will eject the button blank immediately in front of the bar into the opening I1, and matters are so arranged thatthe button blank is deposited upon the particular of the chucks I3 which is actuating the dogs 2|.

1 This is best shown in Figure 2, and it will be observed that when the bar I9 is in the ejected position, it wil1 cover the outlet of the trough- 18, so that the blanks in the trough are not I permitted to descend into the channel I5.

When the dogs 2| have been spread apart sufficiently to clear the conveyor'chucks, the resiliency of the band 28 will return the various mov able parts to their starting position, in readiness for the next cycle of operation which will occur as soon as the next chuck engages the dogs 2|. It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will be clearly apparent from the foregoing disclosure and accordingly, further description thereof at this point is considered un- While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What I claim as my invention is:

In association with a conveyor including a row of 'blank'receiving chucks, a feeding attachmentcomprising in combination, an elongated plate positioned above said conveyor and pro- 7 'vided in the underside thereof with a longitudinally extending passage for said chucks, the upper surface of said plate being formed with a longitudinally extending channel terminating at one endthereof in an opening communicating with said passage, an ejecting bar slidable in said channel, a blank delivery trough communicating with said channel adjacent said opening, a pair of rotatable shafts extending through said plate .on the relatively opposite sides of said passage,

a pair of transversely aligned coacting-dogs secured to the lower ends of said shafts and projecting into saidpassage, a pair of levers mounted on theupper ends of said shafts, an upright pivot a pin provided medially the length of said bar, a

pair of links each mounted at one end thereof on said pin, the remaining end of each link being pivoted to one of said levers, the engagement of said chucks with said dogs sliding said bar toward said opening, and tensioning means for returning saidbar to its initial position.

' JOSEPH A. DE MARCO.

, REFERENCES CITED jhe following references are of record in the file of this patent: W

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 535,972' Wooster et al Mar. 19, 1895 1,788,762 Fearing Jan. 13, 1931 2,137,266 'Carris et a1. Jan. 16, 1940 Knott Nov 19, 1940 

